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SERMON 






OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH 



OF 



^ 



EX-PRESIDENT POLK 



^ DELIV..KED ON SUNUAV, THE 24tH JUNE, 1849, IN THE FIRST 
^ PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



HY 






REV. E. BALLANTINE 

The Pastor. 






Published by reque.'tof a number of gentlemen, members -it the 
Church and Congregation. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY ROBERT A. WATERS. 
1849. 



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I 



SERMON 

OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH 



OF 



EX-PRESIDENT POLK, 

DELIVERED ON SUNDAY, THE 24tH JUNE, 1849, IN THB FIRST 
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



BY 



REV. E. BALLANTINE, 

The Pastor. 



Publishfd by request of a number of gentlemen, members of the 
Church and Congregation. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY ROBERT A. WATERS. 
1849. 









• I 



A SERMON. 



f HEN SHALL THE DUST RETURN TO THE EARTH AS IT WAS J 
AND THE SPIRIT SHALL RETURN TO GOD WHO GAVE IT. 

Ecclesiastes 12: 7. 

This is the inspired preacher's account of that which follows 
upon the decease of a human being — when death comes over 
this curious and wonderful work of God, the body, and, in the 
beautiful language of the same writer, " the silver chord is 
loosed, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is 
broken at the cistern, and the wheel is broken at the fountain." 
It is the fact of death which affects the inspired man ; and he 
pursues the history and destiny of him who dies, no farther than 
to exhibit strongly the utter breaking up of his earthly life. He 
does not mention here, though he does elsewhere, (v. 14,) our 
future retribution, nor the resurrection of the body ; but only the 
wide, and, so far as existence in this world is concerned, the 
Jinal separation of our material and our immaterial parts. 
" Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; and the 
spirit shall return to God who gave it." 

My hearers, a solemn providence of God, which it is our 
duty, and I trust our disposition seriously to regard, calls our 
attention again to this great and solemn and copbus theme of 
death. It is a providence which speaks to the Nation; for he 
who, not four full months ago, retired from the Presidential chair, 
his term of office having closed, has now also, having reached 
the limit fixed by his Creator, departed this life. JAMES K. 
POLK is no longer among the livings His mortal part has 



returned to the earth as it was, and the spirit has returned to 
God who gave it. 

And if all citizens of our republic should hear and attend to 
the voice of this providence, it is certainly becoming and ap- 
propriate for us to do so, not only as citizens of Washington 
among whom were spent the years of his public life; but as 
members of this congregation, with whom for years he habit- 
ually worshipped, and from the midst of whom he so lately 
withdrew. That last Sabbath of his attendance in this sanctu- 
ary, interesting, then and since, has by his death, become in- 
vested with new and affecting interest. It was the fourth of 
March last, the last day of his Presidency. His term of office, 
which was commenced with a solemn oath in the nam€ of his 
Maker, closed while he was engaged with us in the services of 
God's worship : — -certainly a sacred, solemn moment, when the 
holy employment might stimulate the sense of accountability, 
and the desire of God's acceptance, and excite to prayer in be- 
half of the country which he loved, and the government of 
which he had administered with so much assiduity, energy, and 
ability.* We remember with sad interest now, his retiring at 
the close of the services from the seat which he had so long 
occupied ; and how he gave the parting hand to those who were 
around him. It was not without deep emotion that he said to 
an elder of the church, whom he met among^the last in the aisle, 
as he shook his hand, and called him by name — " I shall never 
worship with you again." A prediction how soon and sadly 
confirmed ! 

Friends : The sentiments of a funeral oration, the phraseology 
of friendly eulogy, would accord neither with our present busi- 
ness nor its sacred object. We are before God, engaged in the 
duties of his worship. It is our business to hear for our profit 



*Tho author of the Sermon is misunderstood if he is considered as express- 
ing in these words the sentiments of a political party. He finds his senti- 
ments strongly expressed by the political press without distinction of party. 



God's truth as spoken in his word, and by his sovereign provi- 
dence. That truth I am sure has ah-eady reached your minds 
and hearts, and has met with serious responses there. I feel dis- 
posed to commune with you, my hearers, in these responses which 
your hearts have made. It shall be my endeavor this morn- 
ing to give expression to some of the thoughts and Jeelings 
which have arisen in the bosoms of us all in connection with 
this providential event, and, by expressing, to make them more 
clear, and, as far as they are correct, more deep and permanent 
within us. 

First. You have certainly felt with fresh force the truth of the 
irresistible poiver and undistinguishing work of death. 

You knew it before — that death, commissioned by the 
authority and sustained by the Almighty power of God, bears 
down to the earth all without exception — that if you should 
look into the grave, you would find that "both the small and 
the great are there." You have stood in the grave-yard and 
said, " life's poor distinctions vanish here." You have sung the 
words : 

" Princes this clay must be your bed 
In spite of all your towers ; 
The tall, the wise, the reverend head 
Must he as low as ours." 

But when recently startled by the news of the death of one 
whom we so lately saw occupying the place and exercising the 
authority of President of the United States, then you saxv these 
truths, you felt these sentiments more strongly. They were 
enforced by the dignity o{h\m, whom death had made its mark. 
Many of life's distinctions are factitious. We know that the 
rich are not any better than the poor. As republicans, we 
undervalue the distinctions of hereditary nobility. We believe 
that sovereign power, descending by the law of primogeniture, 
may come, and often has come, into the hands of those who 
without that title would never have been trusted to guide a 
boat or a plough. But we cannot feel that the honors and the 



6 

and the authority which intelligent American citizens give to 
him whom they select to be their President, are so unmeaning 
and so trivial. We feel that a President of the United Slates 
stands out even from the mass of the great and the distinguished. 
Few, very few are they whose fortune it has been to be invest- 
ed with that exalted dij;nity. Certainly, if any of life's distinc- 
tion can avail a man with the Great Disposer of all things, this 
g-eatest earthly dignity would do so. But does it thus avail? 
You get your answer in the death of President Pollc. This 
great distinction — substantial as in some respects it is, in refer- 
ence to the course of Providence, and the law of death, is, we 
see — we feel — nothing, — nothing. Realize then more than 
ever, your liability to die. Who of mis exempt ? Who stands 
so high that death cannot reach him? Who has surrounded 
himself with so lofty battlements that death cannot scale them ? 
with so thick walls that death cannot penetrate them? We all 
stand in on open field ^ unprotected; and fatal darts are falling 
thick around us. The earthly house of our tabernacle may be 
dissolved at any moment. We may go our way, use all our 
wisdom and strength, and make our lives " as sure as we can :" 
we cannot make them sure. On the list of the dead for the cur- 
rent month stands the name of a President. Oilier names, not 
thought of now, may be there, ere the last sands of the month 
are wasted. 

Secondly. The decease of the late ex-President has excited a 
feeling of regret as if it came too soon. We feel that death cut 
him off prematurely, in the midst of life ; when much, very much, 
that was desirable was still before him unfasted and unenjoyed. 
He retired from the highest public to the highest private station 
on earth, and could scarcely have felt himself settled in his 
home, that home furnished with every requisite for refined en- 
joyment ; when he was summoned to eternity. We could have 
wished that he might have been allowed to spend those years 
of dignified leisure which his past activity and honors had pre- 



pared for him — the evening years of life, lengthened out as now 
our summer evenings, to their greatest possible limit. When 
the hours of business have passed, and we feel entitled to take 
repose ; — when the sinking sun has relaxed the intensity of its 
heat, and the rising zephyrs have freshened and sweetened the 
air; — when the light is becoming more and more mellow, and 
the evening clouds, catching the sun-beams, are tinged with 
rich and richer and then fading hues; when inanimate na- 
ture seems to breathe with fresh freedom, and all animated 
nature is drinking in enjoyment, and the twilight lingers long 
on the quiec landscape as if willing to remain until the next 
advancing day : — Such, say our hearts, is that evening of life 
which is to be desired — the period which seems made for en- 
joyment, for which all life's previous years of effort and endur- 
ance are only a preparation and provision. They are the for- 
tunate who experience the pleasures of an honorable and quiet 
old age — they are unfortunate who are deprived of them. 

Let us examine this feeling of our hearts ; there is much in 
it calling for reflection. So far as it is connected in our minds 
with the death cf ex-President Polk, it implies a conviction that 
a man may have been through all the grades of civil honor in 
our couniry ; may have held the highest trusts which his fel- 
low citizens can put into his hands; and, having completed his 
public career, may have retired with honor to private life, and 
still die prematurely — may die regretted as unfortunate. Hold 
fast that conviction — look at it. What estimate do we, when 
we thus think and feel, put upon the greatest worldly power and 
honor ? Why, that they are in themselves, when considered as 
the great portion and boon of life and existence insufficient, un- 
satisfactory — that there is something still beyond them to be 
desired. Hold fast this view of the world's greatest bestow- 
ments. It is not always th^t we can take it — not always that 
we can be convinced, at least practically, that it is true. But 
a ray of light from eternity falling upon the open tomb enables 



8 

us to grasp it. These great objects of pursuit then, so splendid 
in the prospect, to which men devote their Hves, and for which 
some sacrifice their conscience and their peace — the holders of 
which are envied and flattered and sought unto as the arbiters 
of worldly good ; may, we believe, still leave the soul empty, 
hungry, starved, to a premature death. And what then, I ask, 
is the world ? What is the worth of the whole of it, if the 
greatest of its possessions and honors are worth so little, and have 
so little power to make the soul happy ? Let us hold fast that 
truth — let us keep that impression. It is precisely the senti- 
ment of the author of our text, when he says of the world, when 
taken as the portion, " vanity of vanities ! vanity of vanities ! 
all is vanity !" 

And if this be true of Hfe's day, may it not be true also, in 
the same sense, of life's evening ? Are the years of old age 
necessary to a happy life or existence ? How few of those 
who reach them, find them to be that season of enjoyment 
which they had expected. Some bitter ingredient spoils the 
cup and makes it poison. The pressure of various adversity — 
perhaps 'poverty, or disappointments as to expected sources of 
enjoyment — sore bereavements with which the old must become 
familiar, because these are the price of their protracted years — 
the ingratitude of some whom we have befriended — the in- 
creasing disregard of a young and bustling generation — the very 
irJcsomeness of leisure ; these and other causes make age, that 
hoped-for period of sweet repose, far oftener than otherwise, 
most burdensome and intolerable. And what are certainly the 
far advanced years of life? The Psalmest says, (Ps. 90 : 10,) 
" The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by 
reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength , 
labor and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away." The 
preacher also, in the verses immediately preceding our text, calls 
the years of advanced age, " evil days*^ — "years in which thou 
shall say, J have no pleasure in them^' — when " desire shall 



9 

faiiy Who would not rather wisli to be gathered to the toruh 
before these years of imbecility and pain ? He who dies when 
age is yet in its greenness, may have been mercifully " taken 
away from the evil to come." 

We must take rifjht views of life. It is not desi^^ned to be 
the time of our chief joy. It is a time for trial and for service, 
and for preparation for eternity. We are servants of our Maker 
and Master. No man has a right to say while life lasts, that he 
has nothing;; to do but to be happy. We are also imperfect, 
sinful creatures, candidates for a world of eternal retribution ; 
and we may be both punished for our sin and disciplined for 
our eternal good, as long as we live in this world. God has 
also largely mingled joys in the cup of every period of life ; and 
he offers besides, both to young and old, the everlasting bless- 
ings of Heaven. He, therefore, who faithfully does life's duties, 
who submits to God's disciplinary dispensations, who receives 
thankfully God's good gifts, and especially who " lays up in 
store a good foundation against the time to come, that he may 
lay hold on eternal life" — he may die early, die in youth, and 
yet be justly esteemed truly fortunate. 

Thirdly. The death of ex-President Polk has quickened 
into new exercise our respect for his personal character and 
moral tvorth. 

Death throws the mantle of kindness over even great defi- 
ciencies of moral character. The deceased ex-President needs 
no such act of cnarity. There was in him a purity of life, a 
dignity of moral character, worthy in themselves, of all praise — 
bow much more when they adorned the highest station in our 
country, and now command the testimony and the eulogy of all ! 
Who doos not feel a patriotic pride and joy, when he hears the 
spontaneous expressions of respect from all sources for the per- 
sonal character of the deceased, and reflects upon the influence 
of such a character on the side of virtue upon public sentiment 
and upon the standard of character in the holders of office and 



10 

honors in our country. Salutary in the highest degree — sani- 
tary — conservative of the civil and social institutions of our 
country, is private personal virtue in our public men. The in- 
fluence, and therefore the responsibility of those in places of 
honor, is in this respect great. The blessing of God rests upon 
all public men of virtuous, exemplary lives. God give us al- 
ways virtuous Presidents and Legislators, and office holders of 
every grade 1 Tliey are among the greatest blessings which lie 
can confer upon this great and growing people. 

President Polk was not a member of the visible Church of 
Christ, but he was a sincere believer in the Bible, and, as you 
all know, a reifular and devout attendant upon the worship of 
God on the Sabbath. He was an attentive hearer of the 
preached word ; and he felt the importance of religion to society 
and the temporal well being of men, and of personal piety to 
every individual as a qualification for eternal happiness. 

Fourthly. And here I must give expression to another feeling 
which has arisen in all our hearts — it is [hal of earnest hope that 
the deceased ex- President may have secured, upon the terms of 
the Gospel offer, the best, the eternal blessings oj true religion. 
Most sincerely do we all who have heretofore, in this holy place, 
united with him in the contemplation of these offers and these, 
blessings, wish, that the repentance and the faith which God 
requires, and which God gives, may have brought him to the 
peace, and the joy, and the hope, and the eternal salvation 
which are by Jesus Christ. Of the closing scene, all that we 
have ns yet learned is in the following words : " The last hours 
of the ex-President were serene and happy ; and in his dying 
moments he gave evidence of a heart at peace with God and 
man."* His spirit has returned to God who gave it, at whose 
bar alone it is amenable. 1 give expression to the feelings of 
our hearts, in justice to ourselves and to the truths of the Biblci 

* Since this sermon was preached, the interesting history of tho last day* 
of President Polk has bncn much moro fwlly made puhlia. 



11 

and also for our admonilion and spiritual benefit. Lei us de- 
tain these earnest wishes and hopes a moment. They are based 
on solemn truths — truths which must not be lost si<fht of — no 
not amid the splendors of the sunset of an honored life and a 
virtuous character. You have not, my hearers, lost sight of 
them. You do now bring the mailer of preparedness for death 
with all distinctness before you. You separate it from all other 
circumstances of life. You believe that the highest honors of 
the world do not consliiute preparation for death, cannot com- 
mand the acceptance of God; that the President before God is, 
as such, BO moie than the beggar ; tliat every man, whatever 
hi^ worldly station, must come uj) for himself to the great Gos- 
pel proposal, and |)enitenlly in view of sin, and believingly in 
view of Christ, lay hold upon it; that in default of this, a man 
might gain the whole world but must lose his soul; in default 
of this, whatever else a man may look to as a means of repose 
for eternity, he will find the bed shorter than that he can stretch 
himself on it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap 
himself in it. Oh, let the impression of these truths be now 
deepened upon our hearts. It is in view of these truths that we 
perceive the exact meaning and force of the preacher's words 
already quoted, " vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Are there 
before me men occupying posts of trust and honor, the gift of 
their fellow citizens, or of our republican government ? I speak 
to you. Are you communing with death on this occasion ? 
God has given solemn lessons to those who fill the Presidential 
chair. The two men who were successively elected to that 
high seat before the present honored occupant, are boih already 
among the dead. Harrison had just taken possession of it, 
Polk had just retired from it, when they were summoned before 
the Supreme Judge of all. In the last eight years, the step has 
been short from the chair of state to the bar of judgment. I 
call upon the men of mature age who are present. Perhaps, 
respected friends, you remember that on the last Sabbath of the 
last year, which was also its last day, an appeal was made to 



12 

■vuch as ycni from this pulpit — an appeal to those over whose 
heads grey heirs were scattered here and there — a warning that 
it was time to act promptly and decisively on the matter of re- 
ligion. On that occasion, President Polk was sitting in his 
place among us. Just half a year has passed, and on this the 
last Sabbath of this short period, our attention is arrested and 
our hearts are solemnized by the death of him, the most dis- 
tinguished and honored one of those who in that discourse were 
particularly addressed. An awe comes over my spirit. I atn 
warned that the time for exhorting and for acting may be short. 
God speaks to you now from the grave of him who was then 
your fellow hearer. He says, Prepare to die. Watching for 
your souls as one that must give account, knowing that when 
your dust too shall return to the earth, your spirits too must re- 
turn for judgment to the God who gave them, 1 repeat the di- 
vine warning, Prepare to meet your God. Prepare speedily to 
meet him speedily. Before the next half year shall have run 
its round, and the last Sabbath of this year shall throw its light 
through the windows of this our hallowed house of prayer, who 
of us — oh, who of us, shall have followed the lamented ex- 
President to his long home. 

Fifthly. To one more sentiment of our hearts, and to one 
only, I will give expression — it is that oj sincere and tender 
sympathy Jor the htreaved consort of the honored dead. And 
here, truly deep and strong are the feelings of our hearts ; for 
we not only share in the universal sympathy which this afflictive 
stroke has excited, but we cherish towards the afflicted object 
of that sympathy, the affections and the memories of christian 
love and fellowship. We attempt wo estimation of her bereave- 
ment. We feel that this stroke must have made much of life, 
present and prospective, a blank — a dreary blank. But pleasant 
and sustaining are the truths and consolations o( religion. - 

" Religion — richest blessing given — 
Fountain of all our joys below, 

Bids mortals lift their eyes to Heavon ^ 

In scenes of ():irkness and of woe." 



13 

it has already been said, and those who are bereaved shouhJ 
remember it, that this life is not designed to be the place of our 
truest and best happiness. If it were — if in this life only we 
had hope, how many of us would say, we of all men are the 
most miserable ! VV^e have here indeed no continuing city ; 
but, the Apostle adds, we seek — he means, not uncertainly, 
but with the assured hope of ultimate success — we seek one t»- 
come. " There remaineth a rest for the people of God." 

'• Beyond this vale of tears 
There is a life above, 
Unmeasured by the flight of years, 
And all that life is love." 

Heaven will richly compensate for all the privations and sor- 
rows of life. If our afflictions work in us " the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness," they will also "work out /or us a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory." To her, therefore, 
whom this sudden stroke of divine Providence has deprived of 
the desire of her eyes, who so long and so lately had a place in 
our sanctuary and at our communion table, the savor of whose 
christian character was as ointment poured forth in the exalted 
place which she lately occupied ; — to her we tender our christian 
sympathy ; and we pray that, according to the rich and sure 
promises of the Bible. God may be her God both now and for- 
ever. 



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